Cassidy strode back into her room to find Remus still sitting where she left him. He looked up at her, the look in his eyes was resigned.
"I suppose you did it then?" He asked.
Cassidy sighed, her eyes flickering around before they rested back on him.
"Things without all remedy should be without regard: what's done, is done."
"I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more, is none," Remus replied.
"Perhaps it's a good thing that I'm not a man then," Cassidy said.
Shakespeare, the muggle author, was a great favorite of Cassidy's. When she was just getting to know Remus, before he was ever her professor, they had bonded over their shared love of Shakespeare. As much as she loved being in the magical community, Cassidy did often feel isolated as she tried to balance her initial muggle upbringing with the magical world that she was introduced to. She never gave up on muggle authors though... and it was rather brilliant to meet a wizard who shared her fondness for them.
Cassidy plopped down on the bed and found herself reaching for the little flask that she kept on her hip, taking a large swig and sighing with relief. There was a suspicious look in Remus' eye, but before they could settle much further though, there was a knock at the door. Cassidy looked to Remus who seemed just as surprised as she... it's not like either of them were expecting guests. Thus, she shrugged and flicked her wand to open the door.
It was Aragorn.
"Cassidy... and Remus, correct?" He spoke warmly.
"Yes, it's good to meet you," Remus had his usual tired look about him compounded with two or so months in a dungeon, and the emotion weight he bore of Cassidy decisions. In essence, he looked like he had gotten into an argument with a pack of goblins.
"It's good to meet you as well. Prince Legolas wishes to extend his sincerest apologies for the treatment you received here in the Woodland Realm." As he spoke, he entered the room and allowed the door to shut behind him.
"It's alright," Remus replied with a gentle smile.
For probably the thousandth time since meeting Remus, Cassidy resisted the urge to make snap back that "it actually isn't fine," but she settle for mumbling that the least the poncy "prince" could do would be to apologize himself. Of course, that only earned a slightly reproachful look from Remus which she ignored... as usual.
"I came though to inform you that I will be traveling out soon. I journey west of here, to a land known as the Shire." He paused, the slightest hint of a smile that Cassidy had learned to accept as the closest he would get. "I would like to invite both of you to come with me. I could use some traveling companions."
"I take it we're not very welcome here for much longer," an expression that was somehow a combination of bemusement and exhaustion crossed Remus' face.
"King Thranduil is, as a general rule, not fond of outsiders in his realm." Aragorn replied, neatly dodging the question.
"Is prince-stick-up-his-"
"Cassidy," Remus gave her his best "professor" glare as he cut her off.
"Legolas won't be joining us. He has other duties to attend to here," that twinge of a smile flickered again and Cassidy didn't resist the urge she had to chuckle.
"Well," Cassidy knew that she shouldn't... but she had become rather fond of Aragorn's company and she wasn't quite sure if she was ready to part ways with him yet. "That sounds fine to me... what do ya say Remus?"
"I- I'm not sure if-"
"It'll be fine," Cassidy cut him off this time. She knew that he was worried about the wolf and what he could do if they were traveling across the wilds... but Cassidy figured that they could work something out. Aragorn seemed to be the type to know the moon schedule and so long as they were well prepared... Cassidy figured that she could cast some sort of a shielding charm around him to keep him contained.
For not the first time in her life, Cassidy dearly wished that she could be an animagus... but transfiguration just wasn't her subject and she wasn't ready to play that gamble. She had heard enough horror stories of how the learning process could go wrong.
"I suppose we have little choice but to move on," Remus said slowly. "And it is kind of you to offer for us to travel with you."
"Nonsense," Cassidy then realize that while it appeared that Aragorn had bathed, he still wore traveler's clothes and a sword. "I owe my life the young Cassidy here. Tis the last I could do."
"Great, when do we leave?" Cassidy beamed. As much as she wanted to explore the Halls of Thranduil... she had a feeling that he would be decently less tolerant of her explorations than the Lady and Lord of Lothlorien and thus... she figured it was safer to move sooner rather than later.
"Tomorrow at first light," Aragorn seemed to take notice of the weariness in both Cassidy and Remus as he tilted his head lightly. "A servant shall deliver supper for both of you and I was told that the room next to this one had been prepared for Master Remus. Rest well for we have a long journey ahead."
He gave a short bow before taking his leave. When the door shut, there was a moment of peace in the room. They had one night to recuperate, and then they were off into the wilds of this strange and unknown land. Just as Aragorn promised, it wasn't long before a young maid knocked politely at the door and entered with a large tray of food. Somehow, they had guessed what the two strangers would prefer and even had a rather large, bloody veal steak for Remus. Cassidy just pretended to not notice how much his eyes lit up upon seeing it.
As they ate, Cassidy relayed all the information that she could about the world they were in for Remus had spent his months there in a cell. She explained what she had learned from her time in Lothlorien, her travels, and the tales that Aragorn told on the road. She watched as Remus' face pinched with worry when she explained how they held their own dark lord problem, a being by the name of Sauron who was something like a wizard and disembodied at the moment... much like Voldemort had been.
When she got to the part about Gandalf however, Remus' frown deepened significantly.
"He wanted you to fight?" He asked.
"Yes."
"And you said..."
"I told him that I wanted no part in his war. My goal was simply to travel and explore." She watched some of the tension drain from Remus' spine as she pondered on how concerned he always was for her. "Come on," she added with a smile as she dug through her bag. "We've got an early morning tomorrow."
As she said those words, she tossed him a bottle of Murtlap essence and a Dreamless Sleep potion. He smiled gratefully at the Murtlap essence for it was obvious that the wounds from his most recent transformation were still fresh, but he frowned slightly at the Dreamless Sleep.
"Cassidy," he began in that warning tone of his. "How often do you take this?"
"...Not very," Cassidy replied after a slight pause. "Listen, I'm fine and actually, I think I'll head to bed right now. Goodnight Remus."
With that, she stood and began arranging her things for bed. The look on Remus' face said that he had no intention of forgetting the matter, but that he was willing to drop it for the moment. With a heavy sigh he stood and wished Cassidy a goodnight, leaving the room to his next door.
Once he was gone, Cassidy let out a loud exhale and collapsed onto her bed. She finally allowed herself to break down, trembling through all her limbs. There was a reason why she hated memory charms, a reason so deep set and filled with terror that Professor Flitwick had allowed for her to be "sick" and miss class the day that they studied them in 5th year. To date, it was still the only time she ever missed charms.
Cassidy closed her eyes, trying to hold back the onslaught of emotions that came with her using that charm. Echoes of screams, of dark green flashes of light, the sudden pop of an aparation, then it was a blur of voices, orders being called out, hands and magic wrapping around her, attempting to restrain her. She remembered crying out, screaming and begging for them to release her... but they didn't until she forced them to.
Crash!
A window shattered and she was running. She was dazed, confused, and completely lost.
Cassidy forced her eyes open, still panting from the memory.
Remus knew a bit, Dumbledore had "accidentally" let it slip once. But he didn't really know. If he did, then he would become even more suffocatingly concerned than he already was and Cassidy didn't need a babysitter... she didn't need a healer to hold her hand and "talk her through" what had happened.
I can deal with it on my own, she thought to herself.
And thus, she reached into her rather extensive supply of potions and downed one mouthful of Calming Drought, and two of Dreamless Sleep.
With a wave of her wand, a small, floating clock made of light showed the time in relation to the light outside and was set to wake her an hour before sunrise. She then slipped under the covers, her wand still clutched tight in her hand and tucked under her pillow as she fell into a blissful, potion induced sleep.
A warm glow of light and light birdsongs woke Cassidy from her slumber. She smiled as she vanished the charm that showed a miniature sunrise lighting up the room. As she rose from bed she stretched, once more grateful that she chose comfortable and durable clothing for her mission. The suit and robes had gotten her through many a perilous Order mission. Now, they were accompanying her in this new life.
Packing was a quick affair as she had hardly removed anything from her bag the night before and soon, she was ready to go. A knock at her door revealed a different elf from the day before, this one bearing a tray of breakfast which Cassidy accepted gratefully. Once more, she surprised the elf with her Sindarin, but they quickly launched into a rather pleasant conversation. If Cassidy had learned anything from her time at Hogwarts with the House Elves... it was that the servants always knew the most about the gossip of any place.
"I see you're already up," Aragorn, wearing his usual traveler's attire and bearing his sword and bow appeared at the door.
The maid quickly stood, offering one last wish of farewell to Cassidy before leaving the room.
"Morning," she greeted Aragorn, surprisingly cheerful. She had a good feeling that particular morning, there was a palpable energy that she could feel. The Halls of King Thranduil were strange... they felt like a glimmer of faded light attempting to push back against something thoroughly black. The woods surrounding them weren't just dark, they were foul and Cassidy was eager to leave them.
"I suppose we're going then," Remus' head poked through the doorframe and the rest of his body quickly followed. Cassidy was slightly surprised to see that he bore a new pack- perhaps a gift from the elves? It was then that she noticed that Aragorn was shouldering two packs, obviously supplies for their travels ahead.
"Indeed, Gwedel has already been re-saddled with your tack. I hope you won't mind her carrying our bags for a while," Aragorn spoke as he turned to walk. Remus was able to keep up well enough, but Cassidy was reminded why she often rode Gwedel whilst Aragorn walked beside her- he had a long stride.
Cassidy hurried to keep up, her dark robes swirling around her as they traveled through the halls. Strangely enough, they hardly saw any elves as they walked. Eventually, Cassidy realized that Aragorn was taking them down a series of side corridors and empty galleries- places unlikely to be occupied so early in the morning. It seemed that they were likely less welcome than they originally thought.
Their leaving was a quiet affair as only Legolas came to see them off. Gwedel was groomed to perfection and Cassidy was happy to assert that she was indeed well rested and cared for. She busied herself with lightening the packs with a simple Featherweight charm whilst Legolas and Aragorn said farewell, clasping each other tight and pressing their foreheads together for a brief moment. Cassidy filed away that information for later as she figured it was probably a bad time to ask if it was some sort of a custom of either the elves or men.
"I suppose this is our adventure," Remus muttered, half to himself as they set off.
Walking through Mirkwood was a somber affair. Aragorn claimed that Legolas and a small troop of warriors were following them from above until they reached the boarders of the forest. Unlike in Lothlorien where she could sense the elves above her, Cassidy couldn't tell that they were there. She wasn't sure if it had more to do with these Silvan elves being more attenuated to the trees or the muddling sense of darkness. Either way, Remus claimed that he could occasionally hear them and Cassidy trusted his enhanced hearing.
At night they were allowed no fires for Aragorn didn't want to tempt the spiders from their shadowed homes. Despite Cassidy's many shielding charms, Aragorn seemed determined to keep their profile low. Then, when it came to setting up camp Cassidy glared for quite a while at her bedroll. She was immensely tempted to transfigure it into an actual bed with a nice, fluffy down mattress... but she knew it wouldn't be wise. Their journey would likely take some time and she really could keep transfiguring it back and forth. Before long, it would become so worn out that it would be useless. Thus she resigned herself to merely casting a warming charm around herself and her companions. Morning, though still dark and filled with the lurking evil in the atmosphere, was a welcome affair.
Collectively, they all breathed a sigh of relief once they stepped away from the darkness of Mirkwood. The open air and shining sun was like a balm to the travelers as, despite their journey being rather quick with the aid of their secret guides, it was nonetheless tiring. Aragorn paused to briefly wave to the treetops where Cassidy could only presume the elves to be before they were off.
"We're behind schedule," Aragorn remarked as they walked. "The quickest way to the Shire is a shortcut. We travel north before crossing the Misty Mountains."
"Something tells me there's a catch to this shortcut," Cassidy mused as she and Remus shared a look.
"...It shouldn't come to anything," was all Aragorn would reply with.
Days soon fell into a rather pleasant routine. While Cassidy initially started the journey with the intention to walk beside her two companions, she quickly found that both Remus and Aragorn had a much longer stride than her. It really wasn't fair with how tall the two were. Plus, Remus had his lycanthropy fueling him and Aragorn... well Aragorn seemed something beyond a normal man and he certainly didn't tire very easily. Thus, after a few more sips of her flask Cassidy eventually gave up on walking and climbed atop Gwedel who didn't mind as Cassidy had already lightened her packs.
As much as the Elven King seemed to dislike both Cassidy and Remus, he had been generous enough with their supplies and they had a fair amount of cheese, fruit, dried meat, and lembas. Setting up camp was left to Cassidy who wove her protective spells whilst Remus would collect firewood and begin cooking. On occasion, Aragorn would venture out with his bow and return with a rabbit or a few brook fish. Each time, he was kind and discrete enough to leave one portion rather undercooked. And Cassidy could feel the silent gratitude from Remus.
In the evenings, and often during their long walks Aragorn would tell them stories about his world. More and more was Cassidy drawn into her fascination for their land. It seemed that while magical creatures and muggles were abundant, wizards were rare indeed. Most people were spread out, kingdoms keeping isolated to themselves and many lived in neither one land or the other- wanderers as Aragorn claimed himself to be. The geography was strange and the history of how it came to be was even more so. But, one thing certainly didn't change... there were always those who sought out too much power and didn't care much for how they acquired it. Thus, each time the war was brought up, Cassidy could feel Remus' eyes boring into the back of her skull. Nevertheless, their travels were rather idyllic.
But, such pleasant days could only last for so long. Their journey after leaving the boarders of Mirkwood was perfectly peaceful... right up until they reached the base of a vast mountain range that Aragorn referred to at "The Misty Mountains."
It was there that Cassidy learned quite a bit more about the world that she and Remus had been dropped into.